La Belle Miss Linwood
La Belle Assemblée for November, 1821 featured this “biographical sketch” of Mary Linwood.
For an alternate post on Miss Linwood – and why she figures in the Smith & Gosling story.
“In the ranks of female talent and merit, we deem ourselves called upon to present the portrait of Miss Linwood, a lady who stands deservedly high among the female artists of this country, and who accomplishments and character place her in that galaxy of merit, which honours the sex, and distinguishes our country. Of female worth and abilities, it has ever been our ambition to present a faithful chronicle; and we consider the correct likeness of this lady will not fail to maintain the interest of our Biographical page.
“Miss Linwood is a native ow Warwickshire, and her family of high respectability: from her early years, Miss Linwood’s chief place of residence has been Leicester.
“A trifling circumstance appears to have given birth to her first essay in an art, in which she has since so eminently distinguished herself. About the year 1782, a friend sent her a large collection of prints in various styles of engraving, as mezzotinto, &c. &c.: the present elicited the taste of Miss Linwood’s mind. However, it appears they were presented with no other view than that of affording a few days amusement. But she inspected them with the eye of genius, and seems to have conceived that the force of a line-engraving might be united with the softness of a mezzotinto: but, unacquainted with the use of aquafortis in etching, a stranger to the mode of scraping a mezzotinto, and, indeed, ignorant, in a manner, of the whole art of engraving, she had, therefore, no instrument but her needle to make the experiment she had conceived: she resolved, therefore, to embody her first idea, by copying those prints she most admired, in black and puce-coloured silk upon white sarcenet; and her success was so great, that the needle promised to become a new and formidable rival to the pencil.
“Encouraged by the applause bestowed on her first essays, she made copies on a larger scale; and as Catharine II. of Russia was then the munificent protector of genius, Miss Linwood was advised to present a specimen of her works to the empress. She accordingly sent a large picture to St. Petersburgh, which, in October 1783, was presented to her Imperial Majesty by the then chief favourite, General Landskoy. The empress expressed the highest admiration of the performance, and declared it, in that branch of art, the finest, in her opinion, the world could have produced, and, at the same time, ordered Landskoy to make such a present to the artist, as should be worthy of the work, and of herself. But death countermanded the munificent command, for the general’s demise took place a few weeks afterwards, and no one in the Court of Petersburgh durst afterwards to mention his name, or any matter which had relation to him, so deeply afflicted was the imperial Catharine at his death. The picture, however, was highly distinguished, and always occupied a favoured situation in the late emperor’s palace, and still retains its honours in that of the present emperor Alexander.
“Miss Linwood’s first attempt to imitate paintings in oil, was in 1785, in which she was so successful, that she submitted to the Society for encouraging the Arts, &c. her St. Peter, from Guido; the head of King Lear, from Sir Joshua Reynolds; and a Hare, from the Houghton Collection. She was voted, for this, by the Society, a medal, on which was engraven, between two branches of laurel,
‘EXCELLENT IMITATIONS OF PICTURES IN NEEDLEWORK.’
“Between that period and 1789, she made great additions to her collection, and in that year she made the exquisite and highly celebrated copy of the Salvator Mundi, form a painting by Guido, in the Earl of Exeter’s collection, for which copy she was once offered the sum of three thousand guineas!
“We mention it as an extraordinary incident, highly resounding to the honour of the fair artist, that she wrought the first banner offered to any military association; and, in the year 1794, she presented it to the united corps of cavalry and yeomanry of Leicestershire. The design was original and extremely appropriate, and the whole finished with a neatness seldom united with such strength and force of design.
“It is yet more extraordinary in the genius of this admirable woman, that she was never regularly instructed in drawing; yet she was uncommon merit in painting, both in crayons, distemper, and colours; and her drawings are distinguished by their accuracy, taste, and spirit.
“The first idea of making an exhibition of her own works, originated in some pictures having been sent by her to the Royal Academy, which were refused admittance, the Academy being open only to paintings, drawings, and sculpture: but from every president of the Royal Academy, from the celebrated Sir Joshua Reynolds to the present, and from the most eminent artists, her works have received the most generous and unqualified praise.
“To enumerate the merits of Miss Linwood’s exhibition is scarcely requisite. Miss Linwood has produced a collection, which, considering its extent and intrinsic merit, will be deemed a monument of superior genius, and of an industry and perseverance unknown in the annals of female patience and exemplary skill.
“The most valuable picture ever produced by this lady, which exhibits the genius and the skill of the artist in the finest light, and affords the best specimen of the wonderful capabilities of this most curious art, we consider to be the Salvator Mundi. The beauties of the original picture were evidently not only carefully studied by Miss Linwood, but well understood, and the mechanical dexterity with which the truth of the finest pictural effects are produced, is most extraordinary.
“The Farmer’s Stable, after Morland, is as fine a copy of the original pictures as can be conceived, perhaps, in any branch of art; but, considered as a piece of needlework, its truth and effect in drawing and colouring, and the clear making out of the minute detail, is a rare curiosity.
“Jephthah’s Vow, a large picture, after Opie, is a fine specimen. Lady Jane Gray, form a painting by Northcote, has great beauty and merit. Hubert and Arthur, also from Northcote; Eloisa, from Opie; and the celebrated Woodman, after Barker, would alone confer on the fair artists a lasting distinction.
“We may conclude with the words of an eminent biographical writer, the works of Miss Linwood ‘exhibit an honourable history of her life.’”
{copied without correction, from the original}
Two Views of Lady Frances Compton
Today I was backtracking, re-reading some correspondence of Sir Walter Scott. It 1815 he was meeting for the first time some of the family of Lord Compton — future husband to Margaret Maclean Clephane.
It was his description of Lady Frances Compton that made me seek out some more information. And unearthed this lovely little miniature of her!
In the Smith letters, Lady Frances hovers around the edges. She is often abroad (sometimes in company with Aunt Emma, I dare say). The siblings call her ‘Aunt Frances’. Funnily enough, Walter Scott seems to write of her as “Lady Francis Compton”. Maybe not an inappropriate spelling, given his story….
First, here is a glimpse of Lady Frances, at “Her Majesty’s Drawing-Room“, reported in La Belle Assemblée (1816):
Lady Frances Compton.
A petticoat of white satin, with draperies of embroidered silver net; train of Saxon blue satin, trimmed with silver lama lace.
The occasion celebrated the marriage of HRH the Princess Charlotte.
Walter Scott’s comment on the lady is rather remarkable; he is writing a year earlier, in April 1815:
I have missed the post and cannot help myself till Monday there being none tomorrow in this God fearing and religious capital. I will see Lord G. after breakfast tomorrow perhaps before for I thought it necessary to accustom Lady Francis [sic] Compton to the voracity of a Scotchman at breakfast that she may not be surprised at the cousins whom the Isle of Mull may send upon an occasional visit and at breakfast you know I can match any highland man of them all. She is a spirited old lady fond of dogs and horses and had a pair of loaded pistols to defend her house in person when it was threatened in the corn bill riots.
(the miniature, left, sold at Sotheby’s in 2006)
Lady Frances died in February 1832, aged 74 – making her about 57 when Scott found her “a spirited old lady”. I like the fact that she could wield a brace of pistols!
Tom Tit – Portrait of a Horse
Yes, you read that title correctly: my latest *find* is a portrait of one of the horses belonging to the Smiths of Suttons.
“Tom Tit“, seen here in a detail of the portrait which hangs at The Vyne, is mentioned by name over several years.
In a letter written by young Drummond Smith, who was staying at The Vyne in January 1823, Mamma is told: “I am very much obliged to you for your letter… Uncle Chute went out hunting this morning, Spencer has been out twice and Tom Tit performed very well.”
Drummond, writing from Harrow in 1825, asks his sister Charlotte, “Have Fanny Emma and Augusta had any rides since they have been at Ashby, so Tom Tit has made another trip there….”
By the following July, staying with his newly-married brother Charles, Drummond is writing sister Fanny from Suttons: “Tom Tit is very well indeed (if that is any satisfaction to you) I had the pleasure of riding him today…”
That year — March 1826 — Emma mentions the bay hunter; he is being ridden by Fanny and obviously “in Town” with the Smiths. Mary never mentioned the horse, but Charles did — and he put his young bride on Tom Tit’s back.
The portrait, by F. Margetts, dates to 1820. There is a second Vyne portrait (of Thunderbolt, another bay hunter; dated 1810), but I have been unable to find much about the artist.
Miss Mary A. Leigh
As mentioned a few days ago, Paul Frecker’s website includes a photo by Camille Silvy of a woman identified as “Miss Mary A. Leigh” — my immediate thought: Mary Augusta Austen Leigh?
Truthfully: I just don’t know!
On the left is Frecker’s sitter, ID’ed as sitting number 10,508 taking place on 10 July 1862 - which puts her in Silvy’s Daybook 8. The National Portrait Gallery has an extensive “gallery” of the Daybooks. They, however, are not exceptionally enlightening on this young lady.
Mary Augusta Austen Leigh (right) was a younger daughter of Emma Smith and Edward Austen Leigh (see their portraits); she was born on 2 February 1838, her aunt Mary’s 38th birthday! It is a curious fact that Emma’s diaries all have pages cut out whenever she delivers a child. 1838 is no different. These pages are missing, and a small notation in pencil “2d Mary Augusta born” on a remaining page.
On the 21 March, Emma writes, “Baby was christened by the names of Mary Augusta — Ed: christened her — Her Sponsors were Mrs. Lefroy Lady Smith (Julia her proxy) & Denis (Mr E. Lefroy his proxy).”
Mrs. Benjamin Lefroy was the former Anna Austen, Edward’s half-sister. Lady Smith – my Mary – was surely the person for whom “Baby” was named. The Augusta could be for either Emma’s sister (died 1836) and/or mother. Baby’s third sponsor was Eliza Smith’s husband, Denis Le Marchant.
Looking around for mentions of Mary A. Leigh and Mary Austen Leigh, I found notice of a portrait listed in the Royal Academy of Arts: exhibited in 1856, #954 “Miss Mary Austen Leigh” painted by Edmund Havell, Jr (1819-1894). I asked to have the identity of the painter of the little portrait, which is young Mary Augusta Austen Leigh, but no signature can be detected. Could this be the Edmund Havell portrait? — UPDATE: 1/25 I’ve seen a more detailed photograph of the little portrait (it’s gorgeous!), it seems a drawing with chalk highlights and pastels. I know very little about Havell, but suspect he painted in oils — unless this was a preliminary sketch for a full work in oils. Without more information about the 1856 exhibition’s work, and without more knowledge of the original (above) portrait, all is supposition, I’m afraid.
I have one vote against Miss Mary A. Leigh being Mary Augusta Austen Leigh. I want to think it the same person, especially after viewing this pair of portraits of Catherine Anne Austen (daughter of Frank Austen, [follow the arrows under the photo to read Frank's entire entry]).
Help! What do YOU think?
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UPDATE: transcribing some pages from the 1856 diary of the Rev. Richard Seymour, there comes a visit from “Emma and her 2 daughters”. Then he notes their departure: “Emma Amy – Mary Leigh left us for Bray” = note the use during this period of the sole familial name: LEIGH. He was not alone in that designation.
Lady E. Compton
A bit of a puzzle has come up and I’m curious if anyone has any clue(s) that would help.
Paul Frecker has this photo designated Lady E. Compton - is this woman any member of the Comptons of Compton Wynyates / Castle Ashby / Marquess of Northampton family?
My own Lady Elizabeth (daughter of the 1st Marquess) married in 1829 — Emma writes about her cousin’s marriage to Charles Scrase Dickins. Therefore, by the time Silvy was active, she was Lady Elizabeth Dickins.
(Sitter #628 would date to 1860 — see the Silvy Daybook 1 at the National Portrait Gallery, where Adelaide Kemble is sitting #586 and Vicountess Jocelyn is sitting #657; images that are not represented online seem not to have their sitting number provided.)
Lady Marian Alford is sitting #631 (at NPG and Frecker; both claim to have the same sitting number).
It would have been nice had this been her sister, Margaret-Mary-Frances-Elizabeth. Why? Poor Lady Northampton (the former Margaret Maclean Clephane) died weeks after this daughter’s birth in 1830. But the daughter too had a short life; she evidently died in childbirth in 1858.
UPDATE: Thanks to Philip, I know more of the history of this youngest child of Margaret Maclean Clephane: she contracted measles from her brother and died soon after her son was born.
I don’t know who this Lady E. Compton might have been, but sending Philip a portrait, by Augusta Smith (the daughter), of Aunt Northampton, I swear I see the same nose!
Photo Frustrations
This past weekend I have been looking through portraits by the famed Camille Silvy. I found several “new to me” portraits at Paul Frecker’s website, including William Wellesley Knighton (right; son of Sir William Knighton, uncle of Richard Seymour of Kinwarton), a second picture of Captain Seymour (probably Ned Seymour, Richard and Fanny’s son), Henry Le Marchant (son of Eliza and Denis), and a couple of puzzles – “Lady E. Compton” and “Miss Mary A. Leigh“. (Without more information, these last two remain tantalizing names).
I was MOST intrigued by seeing members of the family of Sir John Mordaunt. Especially by a photo Frecker alludes to as “Lady Caroline Mordaunt“. Here, Frecker has a lengthier bio to accompany the picture. She was the daughter of a bishop, wife of a baronet. Her obituary (1913) consistently calls her “Lady Mordaunt” — which is the name the Rev. Richard Seymour uses for this lady’s mother-in-law, the Dowager Lady Mordaunt (née Marianne [Mary Ann(e)] Holbech). Richard wrote exceedingly highly of Lady Mordaunt and her daughters, Mary (born c1811) and Emma (born c1813).
Was “Lady Caroline Mordaunt” Silvy’s designation? As the wife of a baronet she should be Lady Mordaunt; maybe Lady (Caroline) Mordaunt. But if this incorrect appellation comes from Silvy … How does that fact affect the two photos at the National Portrait Gallery that has, in someone’s hand, “Lady Louisa Seymour” emblazoned across the top. NPG used to call this sitter Maria Culme Seymour (ie, Emma’s youngest sister). She, too, was married to a baronet – she shouldn’t be known as anything other than Lady Seymour or Lady Culme Seymour. And Maria was a mere year older (born in 1814) than this Lady Mordaunt (born in 1815).
I had previously inquired of NPG how they came to equate “Lady Louisa Seymour” with my Maria Louisa Culme Seymour. Their answer was basically “process of elimination”. Evidently no one else could be found. At the time I had compared it to another family photo, of Lady Marian Alford (daughter of the Smiths’ cousin, Spencer – the 2nd Marquess of Northampton). Lady Marian (or Marianne) was born in 1817; yet in her portrait by Silvy she seemed matronly. So how could “Lady Louisa Seymour”, a fresh-looking young lady, be Maria Culme Seymour?
And now comes THIS portrait of Lady Mordaunt – another “fresh-looking” lady. (All three are in the neighborhood of being 45-years-old.) It genuinely has me wondering yet again about the Maria picture. I have nothing, however, to compare it to – except this portrait miniature (left).
It is ESPECIALLY hard to “compare” a drawing to a photo. See, for instance, this pair from Ronald Dunning’s website JANE AUSTENS FAMILY, which depicts Catherine Anne Austen, later Mrs Hubback.
Also on Two Teens in the Time of Austen:
- read about the discovery of the Maria portrait miniature (sold at Bonhams)
- earlier thoughts on Maria, early photography, William Claridge, and William Henry Fox Talbot
- the Richard Seymour diaries (on microfilm at Warwickshire Record Office, Warwick)
- fee-changes at the National Portrait Gallery (London); and family members “located” there
- missing miniatures & the found
- my 2011 list of people who’ve helped locate materials and/or reproduced them; in need of an update!
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Fascinating news: Speaking of old photographs, I just HAVE to make note of this news story: “100-Year-Old Photos Found in Antique Camera“. Anton Orlov recently purchased a 1911 Bellini Jumelle camera — which was found to have World War I-era photos still in it! I’ve not watched the video yet, but the eight photos found inside are a wonder of accidental re(dis)covery!
In with new / Out with old
In The Burlington Free Press a TINY notice from Vienna that the Salzburg Mozarteum authenticated a new portrait of MOZART. I don’t mention it often here, but I became a Mozart-fan after seeing (and seeing again) Amadeus. I’ve tons of books – even bought the German edition (four volumes; no commentary) of Mozart’s Correspondence AKA Mozarts Briefe - a magnificent set. I used to take the commentary out of the library (my set didn’t come complete: seven volumes). To me, this “standard” is what Austen studies needs to emulate: all the extant letters, scraps &c — ie, for the entire family; extensive commentary and indexing. Simply fabulous.
Mozartwoche 2013: Coming Soon!
Looking, I found only the most shallow (repetitive) stories. There are so many questions! How do “they” know? If it’s been “centuries”, where was this portrait, who painted it? when? So much nothingness, that I link up this Washington Post story just for the curious. Still hoping to find some in-depth piece…
Part of the head-scratching for me is that another portrait has been discredited, the so-called Boy with Bird Nest. Similar questions pop into my head: why no longer thought to “be” Mozart? This question may be more easily answered. An interesting site called, what else?!, Mozart Portraits, talks about this portrait as possibly by Zoffany, and possibly a portrait of one of the three sons of Lord Bute (a theory being that Zoffany painted Bute’s boys and the nest was an ongoing motif for them). Nice collection of portraits — authentic, spurious, under consideration, and also fantasy & caricature!
Here’s my own little collection:
The Old: Boy with Nest
The New: Detail
The Cute: by Liu Ye
For a cartoon that had me LAUGHING OUT LOUD, see Pinterest.
Seeking Harriet Scott
This portrait, by Sir Henry Raeburn in 1795, illustrates Harriet Scott. Why am I seeking more information on her? The Bedfordshire and Luton Archives and Record Service lists a handful of letters, written by her to Mary Jemima Robinson / Baroness Grantham.
In a letter dated 3 September 1827, Mrs Scott mentions Sir Walter Scott – a recent visit and some Scottish stories dedicated to his grandson, John Hugh Lockhart. An 1829 letter, written from Rome, she mentions Lord and Lady Northampton (Spencer Compton, the 2nd Marquess, and his wife, the former Margaret Maclean Clephane). I’m intrigued to know if more letters exist elsewhere from this same period. There are references to her in the Walter Scott literature. What other members of the Smith&Gosling extended family might she have met?
Harriet was the daughter of Count Hans Moritz von Brühl (in England so long he was known as John Maurice) and Alicia Maria Carpenter. She married Hugh Scott of Harden (Mertoun) in 1795, the year of her portrait.
In writing to her in 1832, Walter Scott commented, “I envied your management of the pencil when at Malta…” So Harriet was an artist in her own right!
Three years later, in 1835, Hugh Scott was confirmed as the 6th Lord Polwarth. So there may be items ID’ed as by Lady Polwarth, though it is the 1820s that interests me the most.
The letters at Beds & Luton sound fascinating, for instance this riveting tale of travel in a bygone era:
“once got a fright having 4 mules to our Coach driven by one post Boy riding the Wheel mule when the first chose to turn short down to a Mill where they usually lived and very near overturned us”
12 – 12 – 12
I couldn’t resist posting today, on 12th December 2012; I have ONE diarist who wrote down what she was doing on 12th December 1812:
“The Duke dined again with us,” wrote Mrs Thomas Smith. The Duke was HRH the Duke of Clarence (later: King William IV). The Smiths had a far more thrilling 12-12-12 than I have done today…
- The New York Public Library has an Autograph Letter written by the Duke to Dorothy Jordan in September 1812
- Huntington Digital Library posted their Finding Aid for Dorothy Jordan’s papers on January 2012
- James & Sons auctioned in July 2012 a Visitors’ Book belonging to the Duke of Clarence — I wonder if I’d recognize names in that book?!? Anyone with information on the purchaser (sold for £1064), let me know.
Duke of Clarence, c1800
Fashion News, Regency-Style
In today’s mail a copy of A Lady of Fashion: Barbara Johnson’s Album of Styles and Fabrics; this is a book LONG on my wish list and I finally broke down and obtained a copy. In wonderful shape! Can’t wait to have a sit down, drink a cup of tea, and really look and read.
For those unfamiliar with Barbara Johnson, her album is at the Victoria & Albert Museum – a great favorite with me when in London. They do have an online look at the album, into which Barbara pasted and pinned fashion plates and actual fabric samples for clothing she had made up:
This page shows some of Barbara’s descriptions, fabrics and pictures. I talked about this book way back in 2008!
Sabina at Kleidung um 1800 shared some wonder “fan-cheers” about the book – I’ll see if she’d mind my posting them. She has a unique view on the book, given you interest in costume. You will find a project “to die-for”: Sabine has been working on an 1806 Spencer worn by Queen Luise of Prussia. Just FAB-U-LOUS!
Colonial Williamsburg has a useful site containing fashion plates.
More about Barbara Johnson’s Album at Barbara Brackman’s Material Culture blogspot.
Regency History has fashion plates from La Belle Assemblée.
See the list of Ackermann’s Repository of Arts here on Two Teens in the Time of Austen.
Portrait Miniatures to give you added incentive can be found at Ellison Fine Art.
